iGR: More People Listen to Music While Driving

AUSTIN, TEXAS—Iain Gillott, Founder and President of iGR, has published an interesting article in RCRwireless.com. (The entire piece can be found here.) Said Gillott:

“…in August 2013, iGR fielded one of its many consumer surveys and focused on wearable devices and connected cars.

“In April of 2014, iGR conducted a large U.S. consumer survey and asked the same wearables/connected car awareness questions.”

I''ll summarize the changes in results over the 8-month meantime:

• The number of those who said they made phone calls while driving dropped, as did the number of people who said they used navigation apps in their smartphones.

• More people said they were listening to music in their cars, and when we asked which technologies were in their current car and how often they were used, an increase in the use of satellite radio, Bluetooth connectivity and hands-free voice were noted.

• When purchasing a new vehicle, “technology” is still ranked a distant No. 4 behind safety, reliability and fuel efficiency.

• The interest in some new technologies in the car did increase between August and April. For example, more people were interested in live traffic updates and automatic alerts to emergency personnel in the event of an accident.

• Interest in other “connected car” features such as built-in Wi-Fi was flat – no change.

• The number of consumers willing to pay to get LTE installed in their next car dropped by double-digit percentages.

• Consumers want their LTE either free or included in their current data rate plan.

Gillott continues: “Overall, what this data shows is that far more – and we mean much more – education is needed on connected cars, the services offered and how they benefit the average consumer. And those benefits need to be tied to safety, reliability and fuel efficiency. If connected car technology can be shown to save money, improve reliability or make the drive to school safer, then consumers are likely to pay more attention and, perhaps, be willing to pay a little more.”